Yearly Archives: 2016

C. Tyler Ellis, MD, MSCR, was first author of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that investigated increasing rates of treatment with chemoradiation alone (without surgery) for patients with rectal adenocarcinoma. After examining thousands of rectal adenocarcinoma cases between 1998 and 2010, they found increased use of non-operative management for patients. The increase occurred more frequently in black and uninsured Medicaid patients.

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Two UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center members - Drs. Deborah Mayer and Barbara Rimer - have been honored with appointments to the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative's Blue Ribbon Panel. They will join a team of cancer experts to provide advice and vision in the implementation of the national program.

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Weight loss surgery was more effective than a low-fat diet at reversing the cancer-promoting effects of chronic obesity in mice, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers report in a new study. The preliminary findings will be presented April 18 at the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

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Researchers with UNC Lineberger examined whether weight loss via four different diets was linked to reduced tumor growth in laboratory models of breast cancer. While tumor size did not differ between obese mice and obese mice that returned to a normal weight on a low-fat diet, they did find that obese mice that lost significant amounts of weight on three calorie-restricted diets had smaller tumors.

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A UNC Lineberger-led study has identified genetic differences in tumors of African-Americans with the most common type of kidney cancer compared with whites. The researchers, led by senior author Dr. William "Billy" Kim, say the findings could help explain lower survival rates for African-Americans with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

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Matthew Milowsky, MD, was first author of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s endorsement of a guideline from the European Association for Urology for muscle-invasive and metastatic bladder cancer treatment. The endorsement was published March 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Researchers at UNC Lineberger and at other institutions developed a new potential treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. In the journal JCI Insight, they report that the compound MRX-2843 more than doubled the median days of survival in laboratory models with a drug-resistant form of the disease.

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The American Society for Microbiology has elected a group of 78 microbiologists to the Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. UNC Lineberger researchers Dirk Dittmer, PhD, and J. Victor Garcia, PhD were among those chosen as fellows.

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C. Ryan Miller, MD, PhD, a UNC Lineberger member and an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and in the Department of Neurology, was senior author of two recent publications focused on brain cancer.

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In the journal Cell Reports, UNC Lineberger researchers reported they found markedly low levels of the protein NLRX1 in multiple laboratory models of colorectal cancer, and in samples of human tissue. Studies have shown that the protein is known to be involved in regulating immune system signals in order to prevent hyperactive inflammatory responses by the immune system, but UNC Lineberger researchers believe their finding also points to a role for the protein in preventing colorectal cancer growth. Based on their findings, they believe they’ve identified a potential treatment for colorectal cancer with low NLRX1.

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